Hello all,
Is there a chance anyone among us might have a complete drawing of the Utah Midland as published in the August 1987 RRMC? I fell in love with this layout as a child and have always had it in the back of my mind to either use cue's from it, or outright copy the plan. Unfortunately the RRMC issue notes that not all tracks are shown in the article drawing, and it's apparent when comparing the scenery pictures to the layout drawing.
"Best guess" methodology could more than likely fill in the blanks, but I'd like to be close enough to 100% accurate as to how the track is/was laid for operation. With loops and height clearance issues due to bridges track length and placement of the "missing" tracks is critical for me.
Oddly enough, and this strikes home for me literally now, the layout is based loosely on the area mining around Helper Utah. I had zero clue 20 years ago how close to "home" this area and layout would become, and until recently had forgotten where this layout was based around. I moved to Utah in 2007 and began heavy rail fanning of the Provo to Helper mainlines. Went back home to Ohio recently and found my old copy of this article and realized it was based on one of my favorite areas to rail fan. This got me back into gear on hopefully being able to track down an entire drawing of the layout.
Almost 100 views and no info. I knew it would be a long shot. Bummer.
Keep checking that popular on line auction sight. One will come up eventually
ratled
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”
I was going to suggest you search the magazine's web site for a back issue but then saw you had it. Have you tried contacting them (the mag) to see if they had any other info or any contact information for the auther?
Good luck!
If you cannot fix it with a hammer;
You have an electrical problem!
Haven't emailed yet. I've been digging and digging online trying to find the track plan hoping it would pop up on someones site or something, but no go. It would be wonderful if RMC had some archived info. That's my next step so let's hope I can turn up something.
Here the link at Railroad Model Craftsman: RMC Back Issues to see if they still have the August 1987 RMC. Note their own suggested e-mail contact for back issues over ten years old.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Sorry guys, I should have been more clear.
I have the issue. I'm looking for the rest of the information (track drawing) that RMC left out of their article in regards to the additional track they didn't include in the drawing.
It is unlikely to include a drawing per se but Allen Keller is selling the VHS of the layout rather cheaply right now
http://www.allenkeller.com/videoPages/GMR04.php
Dave Nelson
FWIW, I found the following references to the Utah Midland via Google (search terms: "utah midland" model railroad) -
MR did a piece on it in May 1979. I'll bet they included a layout plan.
http://www.southcom.com.au/~grahamj/railinx.txt
Also, Railmodel Journal did a piece in the August 1990 issue on Grain Elevators on the Utah Midland
http://www.index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=I&MAG=RMJ&MO=8&YR=1990&output=3&sort=D
Dave, thanks for the link, I just bought the video.... now to dig out the old VHS player.
Pig, thanks for that link as well, I'll have to see if I can get MR to print me up a back issue (i think they can do that right?) That Railmodel Journal link though makes me question if its the same layout (or a rebuilt Utah Midland) as the original was a coal hauling layout with no grain elevators. That and the real world area this layout was modeled after isn't in grain country.
Thanks for the info though guys, neither of those links came up for me when searching Google. Searching for "midland" in my terms usually flooded me with Allegheny Midland stuff.
Quick follow up. I contacted MR about reprinting that article and/or issue. They emailed and said a photo copy of the article can be printed for $5 per article.
So, for anyone interested in this layout themselves, or for anyone needing an out of print MR article it's relatively cheap and easy to have done. The MR article was done back in 1979 so I'd take a guess that they reproduce these from archived issues of their own stock and can provide reprints for anything they archive.
D94R Quick follow up. I contacted MR about reprinting that article and/or issue. They emailed and said a photo copy of the article can be printed for $5 per article. So, for anyone interested in this layout themselves, or for anyone needing an out of print MR article it's relatively cheap and easy to have done. The MR article was done back in 1979 so I'd take a guess that they reproduce these from archived issues of their own stock and can provide reprints for anything they archive.
In my experience, these photocopies are black and white and since the track plan art is in color, you might not get all the information you are seeking. In that era, MR was not desktop published, so they can't just output a color version.
Railpub has the actual back issue in stock, FYI
In any case,there might be better layout design choices in that much space, particularly if you don't have the additional adjacent room for staging as did the original author. But if you have a sentimental attachment, I guess that can trump other considerations.
Byron
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